After a few days of practice, players chomping at the bit and temperatures hitting triple digits, the Missouri Tigers were ready to start hitting each other in a very active first practice with full pads.
The Tigers practiced for nearly three hours outside on Monday and now come back with two practices on Tuesday. Mizzou worked on inside running drills and finished up with 11 on 11 drills to round out practice. Physical contact ruled the day and there weren’t many eye popping plays on offense other than a long touchdown by St. Louis area product T.J. Moe who caught a screen pass and ran 60 yards for a touchdown.
That pass came from true freshmen James Franklin, a 6’2 quarterback from Corinth, TX, who has moved up to number two on the depth charts at quarterback ahead of junior Jimmy Costello. What will be interesting to see as the season approaches is if Tyler Gabbert, the younger brother of Blaine will redshirt this season. From what I’ve seen, Franklin has a better grasp of the offense than the younger Gabbert at this point and the fact that Tyler is fifth on the depth chart and Franklin is second would lead me to believe it may be in Tyler’s best interest to take the redshirt.
There is still plenty of time to go in fall camp and the depth chart could certainly change in Tyler’s favor, but he also needs to start showing some improvement immediately, because Franklin will only continue to grow as he works more with the two’s.
Healthwise the Tigers are doing alright. Will Ebner, MU’s junior middle linebacker sat out with a sore hamstring. He’s listed as day to day.
